Yeast Virgin!

Hello my friends from across the pond!

I completely new to cider so be gentle :) I would appreciate any type of help regarding a yeast to use for Pear Cider. (Perry I believe it's called)

I have had some recommendations of:

Red Star Champagne (Finishes bone dry)

WhiteLabs WLP002 English Ale (“Crisp apple aroma. Clean fermentation character. Low esters, low phenols. Showcases apple aroma.” “Very light straw color, slight haze.” “Sweet apple, finishes a bit sweet. Balance towards sweetness over acid. Med. body, petillant carb, medium alcohol, very crisp finish.”)

Whitelabs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale (Crisp apple aroma with a light fruity ester " flowery like aromas. Very pleasant.” “Very clear, very pale gold.” “Very low sweetness, tart apple, moderate complexity, medium acid.”)

I am looking to make a dry batch, and a sweet batch. And go from there.

Again I am completely new to all of this, but have read through some of these forums and it would be great to receive any input.

Thanks again!

Canadian Cider Enthusiast

I'm interested in this too, as I've got 25kg of very juicy pears picked and softening ready for juicing and fermenting this weekend. I bought a pack of the MJ M02 Cider yeast, as the reviews for it in apple cider were very favourable. Let us know what you settle for and how it pans out, as I can't find a whole lot of information about perry making on the web.

I should point out that one thing I took into account was attenuation (95-100%) - M02 finishes dry, which is good for perry because pears have a large amount of sorbitol which can otherwise leave it too sweet.

IainM said:

I should point out that one thing I took into account was attenuation (95-100%) - M02 finishes dry, which is good for perry because pears have a large amount of sorbitol which can otherwise leave it too sweet.

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Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it. I was thinking something dryer as well thinking of the large sorbitol in Pears. I'll keep you posted and most likely will be searching you out for help if that's ok.

Cheers!

CanCider said:

Hello my friends from across the pond!

I completely new to cider so be gentle :) I would appreciate any type of help regarding a yeast to use for Pear Cider. (Perry I believe it's called)

I have had some recommendations of:

Red Star Champagne (Finishes bone dry)

WhiteLabs WLP002 English Ale (“Crisp apple aroma. Clean fermentation character. Low esters, low phenols. Showcases apple aroma.” “Very light straw color, slight haze.” “Sweet apple, finishes a bit sweet. Balance towards sweetness over acid. Med. body, petillant carb, medium alcohol, very crisp finish.”)

Whitelabs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale (Crisp apple aroma with a light fruity ester "flowery like aromas. Very pleasant.” “Very clear, very pale gold.” “Very low sweetness, tart apple, moderate complexity, medium acid.”)

I am looking to make a dry batch, and a sweet batch. And go from there.

Again I am completely new to all of this, but have read through some of these forums and it would be great to receive any input.

Thanks again!

Canadian Cider Enthusiast

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Depending on the alcohol tolerance of your prospective yeast it will mean it will power through all available sugars or it will be stunted by the alcohol content and leave a residual sweetness.

eg a champagne yeast could have a tolerance of 19% abv - so it will happily power through what you give it until it reaches the higher end of alcohol content as it can tolerate it

If you use a yeast that has a lower alcohol tolerance then you can easier achieve a sweet brew as you will reach the maximum tolerance of the yeast with less sugars - leaving residual sugars left un-used in the cider - giving sweetness

So I went ahead and prepped 3 1 Gallon Carboys. Each were with the same pasteurized unfiltered Pear juice. I use three different types of yeast just to compare each at completion.

Yeast I tried are :

1) LALVIN EC-1118
2) Safale s-04 Dry Ale Yeast
3) CiderYeast / Sweet ( This was a yeast that the store owner had extra from a cider kit that she threw i for free. So I figured to get an initial sweet cider I'd give this a go.)

The Pear juice itself with the Hydrometer came out at an Initial SP.GR. 1.050.

Any tips on how long to let them ferment? I'm not getting too particular on temperature as in Canada now it is getting quite cool and it would be too cold for them in the shed. They are in the pantry at a 65-70 F temp.

CanCider said:

So I went ahead and prepped 3 1 Gallon Carboys. Each were with the same pasteurized unfiltered Pear juice. I use three different types of yeast just to compare each at completion.

Yeast I tried are :

1) LALVIN EC-1118
2) Safale s-04 Dry Ale Yeast
3) CiderYeast / Sweet ( This was a yeast that the store owner had extra from a cider kit that she threw i for free. So I figured to get an initial sweet cider I'd give this a go.)

The Pear juice itself with the Hydrometer came out at an Initial SP.GR. 1.050.

Any tips on how long to let them ferment? I'm not getting too particular on temperature as in Canada now it is getting quite cool and it would be too cold for them in the shed. They are in the pantry at a 65-70 F temp.

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I just put mine on, also got 3 one-gallon DJs, with OG 1.052. I think your temperature should be fine there. I'll be keeping mine around the same temperature with a vivarium heat mat, connected to an Inkbird, with a box over it.

IainM said:

I just put mine on, also got 3 one-gallon DJs, with OG 1.052. I think your temperature should be fine there. I'll be keeping mine around the same temperature with a vivarium heat mat, connected to an Inkbird, with a box over it.

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Well Iain my friend ! The fermentation seems complete. The pantry temperature had dropped to 66 F after I hung the proper thermometer. That was a nice surprise. By 11am this morning all had stopped. The Lalvin really didn't get going until yesterday . The Sweet Cider seemed to ferment very aggressively immediately then slowed quite quickly.

Tomorrow I am planning on syphoning these three ciders into three new
1 gallon DJ's to let them set from the yeast and clear. I'll check the Final Gravity once transferred. Once clear then I'll bottle!

Any tips or ideas would be great! You've been a great help so far.

Also a completely different question... the question of adding flavour.
Ie. cinnamon? Etc.

That was quick! Mine were bubbling away nicely yesterday, and I will leave them until next weekend before racking, then bottle the weekend after. I'm going to leave them as plain perry, no spices, as this is my first batch too. I think it would be nice being quite fizzy, so I'm planning on priming with about 12g/L.

Completed secondary racking on Nov.2nd. Each DJ had distinctive flavours and aromas just with three different types of yeast.

Lalvin: 6.0% abv
Driest of all 3, little sweet, little carbonation, Slight pear flavour

Safale: 5.6% abv
2nd driest, abundance of pear aroma & flavour, Med sweet, little bit
of carbonation

Cider Sweet: 5.9% abv
EXTREMELY SWEET (hope the bottling carbonation will bring
that down), pear aroma and flavourful, few carbonation

I've already found out that I've screwed up a bit. With the secondary racking, I did not fill the new DJ's almost to the top to minimize any air in the DJ. The reason why is that we did three different flavours, and when transferring we didn't want to mix to maximize cider in each bottle. When I figure out what I'd like to work with ( Thinking the SAFALE at this point), I'll be working with a 6.5Gal initially, transferring to a 5 gallon.

Nov.2nd, I used CLARO KC in each DJ to clear them up. Put the airlocks back on and let them sit. As of today they are clearer then initially expected so that was a nice surprise.

I'll be bottling tonight to get some carbonation in them. Any tips? I was thinking brown sugar in each bottle, add the cider and cap. How much room should I leave in the bottle for carbonation and tips on sugar process would be great! and how long should I leave it bottled before cracking this sweet sweet Okanagan Pear nectar? :)

Very nice. Funnily enough, I've just done the first racking of mine. Nowhere near as clear as yours. FG of 1.009, around 5.6% abv, so it will be about 6% after priming. The trial jar tastes very nice! For the sugar, just bung it in the bottles, a funnel will help getting it in. I give the bottle a shake after capping when bottle priming, to dissolve the sugar a bit, but I don't know if it makes any difference. If you have a bottling wand, then the gap left when you take it out will be perfect. Otherwise, try to aim for around 3cm, but there is no need for precision. I'd leave it two weeks somewhere warmish to carbonate, then two week somewhere cold to condition a bit before popping one open, though it should continue improve over the next couple of months.

I've now bottled the Perry, added the 1/2 tsp of Dextrose per 500ml bottle, squeezed the juice to the top to not allow air and capped them. They are carbonating now, but with the added sugar it looks like the yeast is re-ignited and building up a little bit in the bottom.

Is this normal? Or is there a way I should be stopping this. I'm guessing once the Dextrose is ate up by the yeast it will stop fermenting/carbonating?

Thanks for your help.

CanCider said:

Well Iain my friend ! The fermentation seems complete. The pantry temperature had dropped to 66 F after I hung the proper thermometer. That was a nice surprise. By 11am this morning all had stopped. The Lalvin really didn't get going until yesterday . The Sweet Cider seemed to ferment very aggressively immediately then slowed quite quickly.

Tomorrow I am planning on syphoning these three ciders into three new
1 gallon DJ's to let them set from the yeast and clear. I'll check the Final Gravity once transferred. Once clear then I'll bottle!

Any tips or ideas would be great! You've been a great help so far.

Also a completely different question... the question of adding flavour.
Ie. cinnamon? Etc.

Click to expand...

whenever i have used the lavin yeast it starts fermenting quite soon, did you stir/slosh it in or just sprinkle it in ?

it may not have reached the shop or you in top condition eg varying temp conditions

CanCider said:

I've now bottled the Perry, added the 1/2 tsp of Dextrose per 500ml bottle, squeezed the juice to the top to not allow air and capped them. They are carbonating now, but with the added sugar it looks like the yeast is re-ignited and building up a little bit in the bottom.

Is this normal? Or is there a way I should be stopping this. I'm guessing once the Dextrose is ate up by the yeast it will stop fermenting/carbonating?

Thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

Yes that's normal. The yeast will eat through the sugar and produce the gas which carbonates the drink. This will leave a thin layer of sediment at the bottom that should compact down over time. Chilling before serving will also help compaction, but it's always a good idea to pour carefully into a glass in one go and leave a centimeter or so at the bottom of the bottle to stop it getting into your glass.